1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a device for storing and reading flat data media such as disks read by a laser beam, for example; it is more particularly concerned with a device of this kind in which a large number of such data media can be stored under optimum conditions whilst providing fast access to any one of them.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In just a few years compact disks read by a laser beam have largely supplanted vinyl disks. Entire record collections have been quickly replaced by private individuals and by radio and TV studios, such are the numerous advantages of this data medium. However, managing a large number of these disks is not so simple because of their compact size. The information printed on the case of a compact disk is necessarily printed in very small type and, failing a strictly alphabetical filing system, it is by no means uncommon to have to spend some time looking for a particular title among all the disks disposed side by side on a shelf. Any filing error requires a time consuming and fiddly search to locate the misfiled disk.
To provide for a relatively long playing time, for example for listening to a work recorded on more than one disk, some player manufacturers offer systems which can automatically change a limited number of disks. A cartridge capable of holding several disks can be filled by the user who is provided with appropriate programming means for playing the disks in given order. This system makes it necessary to manipulate the disks, however. They must be taken out of their case, inserted into the cartridge and then, once they have been listened to, they must be manually removed from the cartridge, put away one by one in their case and the latter put away in turn. All these operations are time consuming, fiddly and prone to error.
The invention proposes a different concept enabling all the data media (typically disks) to be stored so that they are available to the user in a common and compact cabinet in which they are stored under optimum conditions and protected from mishandling and also enabling this storage system to have integrated into it means for automatically manipulating the data media to move them between their respective storage location and one or more data media playback devices.